Edward Blake
Encyclopedia
Dominick Edward Blake, PC
, QC
(October 13, 1833 – March 1, 1912), known as Edward Blake, was the second Premier of Ontario
, Canada
, from 1871 to 1872 and leader of the Liberal Party of Canada
from 1880 to 1887. He is one of only three federal Liberal leaders never to become Prime Minister of Canada
, the others being Stéphane Dion
and the latter's immediate successor Michael Ignatieff
. He may be said to have served in the national politics of what developed as the affairs of three nationalities: Canadian, British, and Irish. Blake was also the founder, in 1856, of the Canadian law firm now known as Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP
.
Blake was born in 1833, in Adelaide Township, Upper Canada (Ontario) the son of William Hume Blake
and Catherine Honoria Hume, and was educated at Upper Canada College
.
In 1856, after Blake was called to the bar, he entered into partnership with Stephen M. Jarvis in Toronto to practice law. When his brother Samuel Hume Blake joined soon thereafter, it was Blake & Blake and today the firm is known as Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP
.
Blake was recruited into active politics by George Brown
, became leader of the Ontario Liberal Party
in 1868 and premier in 1871, but left provincial politics to run in the 1872 federal election
, in which he was re-elected. The "dual mandate
" rule that allowed a politician to sit simultaneously in a provincial and federal house had been abolished, and Blake chose to abandon his career in provincial politics. He played a major role in exposing the government of Sir John A. Macdonald
's complicity in the Pacific Scandal
forcing the government's resignation. Blake was offered the prime ministership, but turned it down due to ill health.
When the Liberals won the subsequent 1874 federal election
, Blake joined the cabinet
of Prime Minister Alexander Mackenzie
and served as Minister of Justice
and President of the Queen's Privy Council for Canada
.
The Liberals were defeated in the 1878 election
, and Blake succeeded Mackenzie as party leader in 1880. He failed to defeat Macdonald's Conservatives
in the 1882
or 1887 elections
. Blake resigned as Liberal leader in 1887, recruiting Wilfrid Laurier
as his successor, and left the Canadian House of Commons
in 1891, when he moved to Britain
.
In the 1892 election
, Blake entered the British House of Commons
as an Irish Nationalist
Member of Parliament
(MP) for the constituency of South Longford
in the centre of Ireland
. He served until 1907 when he resigned (obtaining the position of Steward of the Chiltern Hundreds) following a stroke
and retired to Canada.
From 1876 to 1900, he was the chancellor of the University of Toronto
.
of Huron, and his wife, Margaret Ann (Bickerstaff) in 1856. She was born in 1835 and was educated at London, Ont. and in Toronto. Mrs. Blake, practiced benevolent and other useful work. She was a member of the Toronto Ladies' Educational Association and served as the Honorary President of the Canadian Branch of the McAH Association in Toronto. She also frequently accompanied her husband on his political tours. The couple had seven children, four of whom survived them.
Queen's Privy Council for Canada
The Queen's Privy Council for Canada ), sometimes called Her Majesty's Privy Council for Canada or simply the Privy Council, is the full group of personal consultants to the monarch of Canada on state and constitutional affairs, though responsible government requires the sovereign or her viceroy,...
, QC
Queen's Counsel
Queen's Counsel , known as King's Counsel during the reign of a male sovereign, are lawyers appointed by letters patent to be one of Her [or His] Majesty's Counsel learned in the law...
(October 13, 1833 – March 1, 1912), known as Edward Blake, was the second Premier of Ontario
Premier of Ontario
The Premier of Ontario is the first Minister of the Crown for the Canadian province of Ontario. The Premier is appointed as the province's head of government by the Lieutenant Governor of Ontario, and presides over the Executive council, or Cabinet. The Executive Council Act The Premier of Ontario...
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, from 1871 to 1872 and leader of the Liberal Party of Canada
Liberal Party of Canada
The Liberal Party of Canada , colloquially known as the Grits, is the oldest federally registered party in Canada. In the conventional political spectrum, the party sits between the centre and the centre-left. Historically the Liberal Party has positioned itself to the left of the Conservative...
from 1880 to 1887. He is one of only three federal Liberal leaders never to become Prime Minister of Canada
Prime Minister of Canada
The Prime Minister of Canada is the primary minister of the Crown, chairman of the Cabinet, and thus head of government for Canada, charged with advising the Canadian monarch or viceroy on the exercise of the executive powers vested in them by the constitution...
, the others being Stéphane Dion
Stéphane Dion
Stéphane Maurice Dion, PC, MP is a Canadian politician who has been the Member of Parliament for the riding of Saint-Laurent–Cartierville in Montreal since 1996. He was the leader of the Liberal Party of Canada and the Leader of the Opposition in the Canadian House of Commons from 2006 to 2008...
and the latter's immediate successor Michael Ignatieff
Michael Ignatieff
Michael Grant Ignatieff is a Canadian author, academic and former politician. He was the leader of the Liberal Party of Canada and Leader of the Official Opposition from 2008 until 2011...
. He may be said to have served in the national politics of what developed as the affairs of three nationalities: Canadian, British, and Irish. Blake was also the founder, in 1856, of the Canadian law firm now known as Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP
Blake, Cassels & Graydon
Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP – Blakes for short – is a Canadian-based international business law firm. It is one of the "seven sisters" in Toronto, Canada....
.
Blake was born in 1833, in Adelaide Township, Upper Canada (Ontario) the son of William Hume Blake
William Hume Blake
William Hume Blake, QC was a Canadian jurist and politician. He was the father of Edward Blake, an Ontario Premier and federal Liberal party of Canada leader....
and Catherine Honoria Hume, and was educated at Upper Canada College
Upper Canada College
Upper Canada College , located in midtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada, is an independent elementary and secondary school for boys between Senior Kindergarten and Grade Twelve, operating under the International Baccalaureate program. The secondary school segment is divided into ten houses; eight are...
.
In 1856, after Blake was called to the bar, he entered into partnership with Stephen M. Jarvis in Toronto to practice law. When his brother Samuel Hume Blake joined soon thereafter, it was Blake & Blake and today the firm is known as Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP
Blake, Cassels & Graydon
Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP – Blakes for short – is a Canadian-based international business law firm. It is one of the "seven sisters" in Toronto, Canada....
.
Blake was recruited into active politics by George Brown
George Brown (Canadian politician)
George Brown was a Scottish-born Canadian journalist, politician and one of the Fathers of Confederation...
, became leader of the Ontario Liberal Party
Ontario Liberal Party
The Ontario Liberal Party is a provincial political party in the province of Ontario, Canada. It has formed the Government of Ontario since the provincial election of 2003. The party is ideologically aligned with the Liberal Party of Canada but the two parties are organizationally independent and...
in 1868 and premier in 1871, but left provincial politics to run in the 1872 federal election
Canadian federal election, 1872
The Canadian federal election of 1872 was held from July 20 to October 12, 1872, to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 2nd Parliament of Canada. Prime Minister Sir John A...
, in which he was re-elected. The "dual mandate
Dual mandate
A dual mandate is the practice in which elected officials served in more than one elected or other public position simultaneously. This practice is known as double jobbing in Britain and distinguished from double dipping in the United States For example, suppose a...
" rule that allowed a politician to sit simultaneously in a provincial and federal house had been abolished, and Blake chose to abandon his career in provincial politics. He played a major role in exposing the government of Sir John A. Macdonald
John A. Macdonald
Sir John Alexander Macdonald, GCB, KCMG, PC, PC , QC was the first Prime Minister of Canada. The dominant figure of Canadian Confederation, his political career spanned almost half a century...
's complicity in the Pacific Scandal
Pacific Scandal
The Pacific Scandal was a political scandal in Canada involving allegations of bribes being accepted by the Conservative government in the attempts of private interests to influence the bidding for a national rail contract...
forcing the government's resignation. Blake was offered the prime ministership, but turned it down due to ill health.
When the Liberals won the subsequent 1874 federal election
Canadian federal election, 1874
The Canadian federal election of 1874 was held on January 22, 1874, to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 3rd Parliament of Canada. Sir John A...
, Blake joined the cabinet
Cabinet of Canada
The Cabinet of Canada is a body of ministers of the Crown that, along with the Canadian monarch, and within the tenets of the Westminster system, forms the government of Canada...
of Prime Minister Alexander Mackenzie
Alexander Mackenzie
Alexander Mackenzie, PC , a building contractor and newspaper editor, was the second Prime Minister of Canada from November 7, 1873 to October 8, 1878.-Biography:...
and served as Minister of Justice
Minister of Justice (Canada)
The Minister of Justice is the Minister of the Crown in the Canadian Cabinet who is responsible for the Department of Justice and is also Attorney General of Canada .This cabinet position is usually reserved for someone with formal legal training...
and President of the Queen's Privy Council for Canada
President of the Queen's Privy Council for Canada
In the Canadian cabinet, the President of The Queen's Privy Council for Canada is nominally in charge of the Privy Council Office. The President of the Privy Council also has the largely ceremonial duty of presiding over meetings of the Queen's Privy Council for Canada, a body which only convenes...
.
The Liberals were defeated in the 1878 election
Canadian federal election, 1878
The Canadian federal election of 1878 was held on September 17 to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 4th Parliament of Canada. It resulted in the end of Prime Minister Alexander Mackenzie's Liberal government after only one term in office. Canada suffered an economic depression...
, and Blake succeeded Mackenzie as party leader in 1880. He failed to defeat Macdonald's Conservatives
Conservative Party of Canada (historical)
The Conservative Party of Canada has gone by a variety of names over the years since Canadian Confederation. Initially known as the "Liberal-Conservative Party", it dropped "Liberal" from its name in 1873, although many of its candidates continued to use this name.As a result of World War I and the...
in the 1882
Canadian federal election, 1882
The Canadian federal election of 1882 was held on June 20, 1882 to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 5th Parliament of Canada.Prime Minister Sir John A...
or 1887 elections
Canadian federal election, 1887
The Canadian federal election of 1887 was held on February 22, 1887 to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 6th Parliament of Canada.The Conservative Party of Prime Minister Sir John A...
. Blake resigned as Liberal leader in 1887, recruiting Wilfrid Laurier
Wilfrid Laurier
Sir Wilfrid Laurier, GCMG, PC, KC, baptized Henri-Charles-Wilfrid Laurier was the seventh Prime Minister of Canada from 11 July 1896 to 6 October 1911....
as his successor, and left the Canadian House of Commons
Canadian House of Commons
The House of Commons of Canada is a component of the Parliament of Canada, along with the Sovereign and the Senate. The House of Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 308 members known as Members of Parliament...
in 1891, when he moved to Britain
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was the formal name of the United Kingdom during the period when what is now the Republic of Ireland formed a part of it....
.
In the 1892 election
United Kingdom general election, 1892
The 1892 United Kingdom general election was held from 4 July to 26 July 1892. It saw the Conservatives, led by Lord Salisbury, win the greatest number of seats, but not enough for an overall majority as William Ewart Gladstone's Liberals won many more seats than in the 1886 general election...
, Blake entered the British House of Commons
British House of Commons
The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which also comprises the Sovereign and the House of Lords . Both Commons and Lords meet in the Palace of Westminster. The Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 650 members , who are known as Members...
as an Irish Nationalist
Nationalist Party (Ireland)
The Nationalist Party was a term commonly used to describe a number of parliamentary political parties and constituency organisations supportive of Home Rule for Ireland from 1874 to 1922...
Member of Parliament
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
(MP) for the constituency of South Longford
South Longford (UK Parliament constituency)
South Longford was a parliamentary constituency in Ireland, which returned one Members of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom....
in the centre of Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
. He served until 1907 when he resigned (obtaining the position of Steward of the Chiltern Hundreds) following a stroke
Stroke
A stroke, previously known medically as a cerebrovascular accident , is the rapidly developing loss of brain function due to disturbance in the blood supply to the brain. This can be due to ischemia caused by blockage , or a hemorrhage...
and retired to Canada.
From 1876 to 1900, he was the chancellor of the University of Toronto
University of Toronto
The University of Toronto is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, situated on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution of higher learning in Upper Canada...
.
Family
Edward Blake married Margaret Cronyn, the daughter of the Right Rev. Dr. Cronyn, Lord Bishopof Huron, and his wife, Margaret Ann (Bickerstaff) in 1856. She was born in 1835 and was educated at London, Ont. and in Toronto. Mrs. Blake, practiced benevolent and other useful work. She was a member of the Toronto Ladies' Educational Association and served as the Honorary President of the Canadian Branch of the McAH Association in Toronto. She also frequently accompanied her husband on his political tours. The couple had seven children, four of whom survived them.
External links
- Ronan O'Brien, "An Irishman's Diary", Irish Times, 13 August 2007 (subscription required)
- Ontario's Historical Plaques